Tuesday 5 February 2013

Sweet dreams are made of cheese

Today I've been busy taking product pics for the shop.
It's been absolutely freezing in the flat, so in a fair few of the pics I look decidedly peeved.
Today was also the first time I used my new camera remote control.
Before I had to go back and forth to the camera to press the button in-between every photo, which was a complete pain in the backside plus quite often the camera wouldn't be in focus when I got to my place in front of it, which needless to say was also a huge big pain in the booty region.
Now I can simply press the remote and hey presto...click, click, click!
I'm loving the fact that it's sparing me a whole heap of faffing about but there is one small problem, the concealment of the remote.
It is nigh-on impossible to strike the 'hold your waist' pose, cause you have to use your fingers to press the button.
It does have a timer function, so I suppose I could slip it on the floor after I've pressed and then strike a pose.
So many things to worry about, world poverty, corruption, deforestation and how to look natural when using a bleeding camera remote control.
I can just feel my life spinning into a vacuous abyss of triviality here, och!
Anyway, I'm sure I'll get the hang of it :) 
I messed around with PicMonkey when I was having my hour off in the afternoon and here's the result... 
The three frocks and the tie-dye top are all destined for the shop.
Not sure when cause I've got a fairly jam-packed schedule this week already.
Because it was all work and no play for me today, I just wore a comfy outfit in a style I'd describe as 'tatterdemalian'...
"Tatterdemalion: A person wearing ragged or tattered clothing"...that'll be me then ;)
When I wasn't taking product pics, I changed into my comfy slippers because... 
 - I tend not to wear outdoors footwear indoors.
 - I'd probably fall down and break my neck if I was to race up and down the stairs in these bad boys.
...but perhaps most importantly,  I'm getting to that stage in my life when I'm really starting to appreciate sensible footwear, in particular slippers ;)

I've had two very odd & inexplicable cravings today; at one point I was gagging for a cheese and onion pasty (I'm vegan) & then I was struck by an insane craving for real ale (I knocked the booze on the head over four years ago).
I'm not sure what is going on, maybe it's the cold weather making me want to pig out on cheese and get drunk (sounds like heaven right now).
Watch this space, there may be a "pickled post" in the near future if my craving have their wicked way with me ;)
Thanks for all the lovely comments you've been leaving, you ROCK my little world!
Lot's of love,
Jennie
xXx  


Saturday 2 February 2013

Cold hands, adventurous heart

I have no rose tinted tales from the nineties for you today only an outfit...
Vintage 70s suede jacket , 60s dress, 50s booties, 90s lurex jumper, M&S tights, knitted mohair hat, soapstone & macrame earrings, a plethora of bangly things (all thrifted from car boot sales and markets)
We went for a quick stroll around the park earlier and it was VERY cold.
I forgot to bring my gloves, so by the time we got to the park I had what I would describe as "hypothermic hands".
Last time I felt like my hands were going to break clean off was in February last year when I was kneeling on a training platform at the bottom of Wraysbury lake.
The water was three degrees Celsius and my life was flashing in front of my eyes.
Still one of the best experiences I had in 2012.
I'm absolutely hankering to go diving again...hurry up spring!
Hope you are all enjoying your weekend :)
Lot's of love,
Jennie
xXx


The soundtrack of my life

Back in the autumn of ‘92 something happened that would change my music taste forever.
 Up until then I'd pretty much been a pop chart follower & my record collection played host to some of the most dire music ever made.
One afternoon I was on my way to a local café where a little cluster of my classmates used to hang out after school, when I spotted a new record store.
It looked really groovy from the outside and the scent of burning incense drew me in.
I wasn't going to buy anything but I left with two albums, which were 
'Nirvana – Nevermind' & 'Pearl Jam –Ten'.
I wasn't even into that kind of music then but the owner of the shop was so convinced that I’d fall in love with them that he even told me that I could bring them back for a full refund if I didn't.
I brought them home & listened to them all weekend, then I went back into the shop on the following Monday & shook the dude’s hand.
After that pop was dead to me, I weeded out all the inane crap to make room for proper music.
I was an alternative rock convert, hallelujah ;)
The record store became a regular haunt for me and my mates.
The owner had an uncanny ability to unite people with music that they never thought they'd like; he also had a really infectious love of rock music & an almost encyclopedic knowledge of bands.
It was an exciting time of my life and one that deserved a more kick-ass soundtrack than the ten a penny pop I'd previously favoured and a kick-ass soundtrack is just what I got.
Later that year I bought the first album by 'Rage Against The Machine' and my life was never the same again ;)
The last record that I bought from the store, before I moved away from Sweden in ’93 was ‘The The – Dusk’ which is still one of my favourite albums.
I love all the songs on this album and I think they've kept fresh.
What 90s albums do you have that you can still listen to and enjoy all the way through?

I’ll leave you with another wonderful song by 'The The', enjoy…
Have a fabulous weekend!
Lot's of love,
Jennie
xXx


Friday 1 February 2013

Easy peasy lemon squeezy layering

After waxing lyrical about the overlay function on PicMonkey earlier, I decided to go one further and do a basic tutorial.
It really is easy peasy lemon squeezy ;)
I chose a photo of my mum from her modelling days in the late 50s & a photo that I took in Eastbourne last year.
As they both have a neutral & uncluttered background they are easier to blend together.
I also used a plain white base image to layer the pics on but you don't have to, I just like doing it this way cause it offers more scope of movement.
So here's my little tutorial...
Find two images that you want to merge together and a plain white base image  if  you want. 
Go on to PicMonkey and click the 'Edit a Photo' option. I chose to work on a white base image but you can just open one of your photos instead.
Now I have opened my base image and I want to add my two pics onto it. I do that by going to the 'Overlays'  tool, fifth icon from the top on the left hand side of your screen and click the 'Your Own' option at the top.
Here I've added my two pics to my base image and now I can start  having some fun with them. 
In order to really blend the two images together, the best course of action is to  tweak around with the  fade slider and the blend modes. There is also a handy eraser tool.
Lined up and blended to my liking. With some images it is quite difficult to completely get rid of the seams where the two images overlap.
Now I want to crop the layered image , so I click the top icon, then simply adjust & apply.
If you want to add more effects to the image, you can do so by clicking on the second icon from the top to access some awesome  stuff. Not all of the effects will be suitable for your new image cause they make the overlap seams show up again...play around with it :)
You can also add a frame to your image by clicking the sixth icon from the top to access frames. 
As a final touch you can also add some text by clicking the 'P' icon to access loads of cool fonts. 
When you are happy, save your masterpiece by clicking the 'Save ' button above your image and save photo.
All done, now you can make someones day by posting your good work onto their FB page or sending it to them in an e-mail ;)
Lot's of love,
Jennie
xXx



Praise PicMonkey

I'm sure most you clever cookies already know about PicMonkey but just in case there is still someone out there unaware of its awesomeness, I thought I'd better do a quick blog about it.
I've been using the same antiquated photo editing software that came with our very first scanner for years; I'm actually too embarrassed to tell you how many, it's that long.
I just got used to it (read:LAZY) and thought that learning anything new would be a complete hassle, so I didn't.
I was always admiring photos on other peoples blogs, convinced that they had all been edited by Photoshop wizards using mega expensive software.
Imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon PicMonkey which is a partly free photo editing website.
The service is a so-called 'freemium' with a whole bunch of ad-supported features that you can use to your hearts content at no cost and some premium features that you can only access though paying a monthly membership.
So far I have only used the free stuff but I have to say that I am very impressed with how the pictures are coming out and needless to say my old editing software has finally been retired....and there was much rejoicing!
I have been playing around with it for the past few days and my favourite feature is the 'Overlay' cause you can add your own.
So now I can finally create those dreamy layered pics that I've been hankering over.
It's pretty straightforward, even I (a complete cave dweller when it comes to stuff like this) was able to get a handle on it after a few hours.
So if you haven't used it before, pop over and have a play around, I'm sure you won't regret it.
Just in case you are wondering, PicMonkey did not give me a bagful of cash to sing their praises (if only), I genuinely want to spread the word about this service cause it ROCKS & a lot of it is FREE which in my book makes it even better!
Are you using PicMonkey already, if so for how long have you been using it and would you recommend paying the monthly $4.99 for the Royale membership?
One of my layered images ;)
HAPPY FRIDAY everybody, I can almost smell the weekend ;)
Lot's of love,
Jennie
xXx
  


Wednesday 30 January 2013

Travelling through threads

I’ve had the black velour jumpsuit that I’m wearing today for over twenty years.
All throughout my teens my mum would let me order a few bits from the mail-order catalogue each season.
What would usually happen is that I would scope out the things that I fancied & then hang on until the sale to get more bang for my buck or kit for my krona as it were.
Invariably the things that I’d chosen ended up in the sale, perhaps cause I would usually favour the more impractical & ostentatious garments.
Whilst my mates took their fashion inspiration from Beverly Hills 90210, I sought my style stimulus in music videos; I wanted to look like the chicks on MTV, hell yeah!
The early 90s saw my wardrobe embrace a holy mishmash of clingy, second skin like leggings, jumpsuits & mini dresses, jewel tone long velvet waistcoats, ridiculously oversized jumpers in a kaleidoscope of colours and a rough and ready camouflage print bomber jacket.
I also bought my first ever pair of DMs and wore them to death.
My favourite shade of lipstick was called ‘Chocolate Kiss’ and my perfume was New West by Aramis. 
I know that some people recoil in horror when faced with photos of their younger self, mainly because of the clothing they were sporting back then but I see these photos as little snapshots of a journey.
Personally I love seeing how someones style has evolved throughout the years and although my own long & winding road has been laced with a fair few fashion disasters, 
all-in-all I'm pretty pleased with where its taken me.
How about you?
Vintage 80s snakeskin print jacket (eBay), 90s velour jumpsuit (Halens), 80s cowboy boots (car boot sale), beaded bib necklace (pressie) & DIYed earrings (made myself)
The words that you can see in the first pic are from a song by one of my all-time favourite bands 'The The'.
You can listen to it here, go on you know you want to ;)
Lot's of love,
Jennie
xXx



Monday 28 January 2013

Those were the days


Back in the early 90s I spent a summer working in a very well known holiday resort on Costa Blanca.
An older friend of mine had done a few summers there in the late 80s and had enthralled me with his tales of excitement, adventure and really wild things.
So after I finished college I booked a flight to Alicante and blagged a seat on a package holiday transfer bus to the resort.
Once there I managed to find some very cheap accommodation in a grotty hostel situated in the old town and set about looking for a job.
For two nights solid I was job hunting, going to almost every bar & club in the resort but everywhere was the same story, fully staffed.
I did have a back up plan, which was to go fruit picking in the south of France, but ideally I wanted to stay where the buzz was, I was only eighteen after all.
On my third day there I was sitting at a café near the bullring eating a huge bocadillio and having several ‘kick in the back of the head’ strength coffees when a handsome middle-aged man approached me.
At first I thought he was just some random perv trying to chat me up but he turned out to be a real diamond geezer; after making a few calls to his mates he’d sorted me out with a club propaganda job.
I started sharing an apartment with three of my workmates & although it was bordering on claustrophobic we had a whale of a time that summer.
On a good day we’d borrow some mopeds and head for the cliffs further down the coast, listen to loud cheesy techno music, drink cheap beer and play truth or dare, in which the dare usually involved launching yourself into the sea off a steep cliff.
In the evening we’d head back into town, feast on huge plates of tuna pasta and drink cheap plonk out of cartons.
Some times we had to do special promotions or leafleting on the beach during the day but most days we just worked from 9pm until 2am and after we would join the throng of punters inside and party until sunrise.
The busy season started slowing down in late September and one by one friendly faces sloped off.
By mid October the resort had been transformed into bingo heaven for well-heeled old timers spending the winter abroad. 
I bought a bus ticket to London and endured the most excruciatingly long bus journey I’ve ever taken.
My diamond geezer had offered to buy me a flight ticket but I quite stupidly turned it down cause I didn’t want to feel as if I owed him anything.
I think that I must have really hurt his feelings cause I never heard from him again.
Sadly I have very few photos left from this time of my life cause I “lost” them in a particularly nasty break-up from a jealous boyfriend a few years later but I will always have my memories.
The choon that defined that glorious summer…
Lot's of love,
Jennie
xXx